PM to meet with premiers; Women targetted in majority of domestic homicides

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a revolt by the premiers ahead of their planned meeting on Friday in Montreal.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office says he’s prepared to walk away if the meeting doesn’t include discussions on the carbon tax. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says while the word “oil” has been added to the agenda, she doesn’t feel the amount of time allocated to discuss the crisis is adequate.

Report finds women targeted in majority of domestic homicides

A report that has been released on the 29th anniversary of the massacre of 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique has found 76 % of victims of domestic homicides between 2010 and 2015 were women.

The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative tracked data on the 476 people killed in a domestic homicide. It says four vulnerable groups, Indigenous people, immigrants and refugees, people living in remote or rural areas, and children comprised 53 % of homicide victims.

Scheer criticized at Assembly of First Nations meeting

Hundreds of chiefs gathered for an Assembly of First Nations meeting in Ottawa booed Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer Thursday morning.

They weren’t pleased when he told them they would have to wait until his platform is released to see how he differs from Stephen Harper. The chiefs told Scheer that Harper had lost their trust and asked him a simple question about how he plans to rebuild it.

Justice Minister says there are no plans to change Criminal Code

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould’s office says the federal government doesn’t plan to change the law to make coercing someone into being sterilized a crime.

First Nations leaders gathered at a special meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa Thursday want the government to amend the Criminal Code. Wilson-Raybould’s office says existing provisions within the Criminal Code are meant to capture a range of criminal behaviour, which includes pushing someone into a sterilization they don’t want.

Scientists learning more about what caused mass extinction

Scientists think they’ve figured out the falling dominoes that led to Earth’s largest mass extinction — and they’re worried human-caused climate change puts the planet on a vaguely similar path.

Some 250-million years ago, about 90 % of sea life and 70 % of land life went extinct, and scientists have long speculated that massive volcanic outbursts triggered the cataclysmic event. A new study used complex computer simulations to plot out what happened after the volcanoes blew revealing that it led to a spike in ocean temperatures, causing a mass marine die-off.